Where was USFS coverage of "Figure Skating In Harlem"

US Figure Skating Does a Promotion Splat

Where was the coverage of "Figure Skating In Harlem" earlier this
week at Central Park Rink, NYC? :sheesh:

A poster at the USFS Chat Forum asked that very question along with
remarks expressing real concern and disappointment at the apparent
lack of foresight to bring this major event to the public's
attention. It would appear that U.S. Figure Skating has once again
crashed into the boards on their promotions planning.

What is going on? Covering this event was a no-brainer! An array of
impressive skating stars including; Michelle Kwan, Oksana Baiul, Tim
Goebel, Dorothy Hamill, Tai Babilonia were there along with skating
notables Dick Button, Peggy Fleming and Tom Collins. Donald Trump,
and the Mayor of New York also attended & participated in this very
worthwhile & laudable cause.

Under the leadership of now departed former President Chuck Foster we
saw new thought and ideas begin to take hold. There began
reorganization within USFS, a re-emphasis on promoting the sport, a
fresh look at skater development, an attempt, at least, to make some
inroads within the ISU on improving the new COP and how it will be
used and presented at competitions within the United States. Things
looked to be improving all around.

Promotion of the sport, not only for the benefit of the skaters, but
the fans and viewer as well got a big boost with the complete redo of
the USFS official website which saw the webcasting of several skating
events during this current season, with the promise of more to come
in coming years. We witnessed live scoring from Nationals for the
first time, along with great photo and video coverage of same, as
well as all the Grand Prix competitions. It has been slow coming, but
Media Relations at USFS is finally beginning to warm to the internet
and all it's capabilities. Now what is needed is to make this
initial spark really ignite into a roaring blaze and promote the hell
out of all things skating to help bring in additional marketing
dollars for the Association.

ATTENTION USFS Executive Committee!!! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? The
technology is only going to improve, making the presentation of major
competitions LIVE on the web, not only practical, but absolutely
necessary for future additional revenue for figure skating. Sell
Season Tickets for heaven's sake... All Event Passes (with backstage
video for those who pay to receive it). Sell each event per each
discipline...Short Program, Long Program, by the day,
whatever.....JUST SELL SKATING!

If USFS is going to make money you have to do two things. Get paying
sponsors, not just for competitions, but for all major events that
the association can promote. So where was the coverage of "Figure
Skating In Harlem" earlier this week? Where was a MAJOR PROMOTION of
this event by USFS? What was the Executive Committee doing with
their heads stuck to the ice? There should have been a full
production staff there to document the event. Taped coverage of the
whole or best parts (at least for historical purposes) video clips
for the website along with photos, and interviews of both the skating
stars and their interaction with the kids they were there to
support. From what I understand, Tom Collins of Champions On Ice
played a big part in this event. USFS has a very good working
relationship with Mr. Collins and to not have made this a major
promotion just has my head shaking in wonderment.

Once again let me repeat.... with the huge cut in Television revenues
starting to take effect, USFS had better put some resources into it's
promotion, public relations and marketing departments. Hire
professionals who have the knowledge and experience to plan, create
and execute the selling of the sport not only to the public, but the
corporate world too! Most importantly MAKE USE OF THE INTERNET to
help accomplish this effort! It's there; It's waiting! What's the
holdup folks?

I've always been under the impression that it was up to the local organizers to do the promotion & advertising of their event. Hardly a week goes by that I don't see ads on a Spokane channel advertising the '07 Nationals. That's being paid for locally, not by the USFSA.

But I think the point that Visaliakid is raising is that USFS could be more active in using it's web site and other Internet resourses to give more publicity to these events.

This particular event was more of a meet-and-greet featuring the stars of COI, rather than a show or competition. But in general I agree with Vasali that it would be cool for USFS to take the lead in bringing technology on line to tap the potential of the Internet in promotional features.